Ballot issues may trip conventional wisdom

Nov. 1, 2012
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California Gov. Jerry Brown speaks in support of Proposition 30 at an elementary school in San Diego. Proposition 30 would boost the state sales tax for four years and raise income taxes for seven years on those who make more than $250,000 annually. / By Lenny Ignelzi, AP

by Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

by Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

Voters appear ready to upset conventional wisdom in some cases Tuesday when they tackle more than 1,000 ballot measures on some of the toughest, most emotional issues, ranging from the right-to-die to union power.

Along with the presidential race, voters Tuesday will decide 174 statewide ballot questions in 38 states, plus more than 1,000 local decisions, mostly to raise or cut taxes.

In Arkansas, leading Republicans are supporting a tax hike. In Massachusetts, Catholics appear ready to support the right-to-die for terminally ill patients. Republican-friendly Idaho may reject the party's public schools overhaul. Liberal Californians might say 'no' to a Democratic plan to raise taxes on the wealthy.

"The presidential election takes up so much air that we miss voters making critical decisions on a wide-range of issues," says Justine Sarver, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which pushes liberal ballot issues. "We don't see the 'other' election being held right under our noses."

Today's ballot issues are driven by the passion of individuals and groups, often involving issues of the heart and wallet. No ballot issue is expected to influence the presidential race this year.

"Most voters see these as local issues - 'Do we need to build another school?' - not as a comment on a national politics," says Greg Lawson, policy analyst at the conservative Buckeye Institute. Swing-state Ohio has property tax levies on the ballot in 194 of 613 school districts.

Big issues that may produce surprising results:

Arkansas. The state Chamber of Commerce is leading the fight for a half-cent sales tax hike to fund $1.3 billion in highway improvements, including expanding the Interstate 30 bridge over the Arkansas River in Little Rock from six to 10 lanes. "Chambers generally oppose tax increases," says chamber president Randy Zook. "But we recognize that Washington is broke. If infrastructure is going to get built, we have to step up and do it ourselves."

California. The proposal by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown to fix the state's budget is tumbling in the polls and clinging to narrow support. He wants voters to raise the sales tax rate a quarter cent to 7.5% and the top income tax rate from 10.3% to 13.3%, bringing in up to $9 billion a year.

Idaho. The Republican Legislature approved a model of conservative school overhaul in 2011: phase out teacher tenure, implement merit pay, limit collective-bargaining rights for teachers' unions. Poll show a tossup.

Massachusetts. This heavily Catholic state appears ready to give terminally ill patients the right to get drugs from a physician to end their life despite strong opposition from church officials. Voters in Oregon and Washington have approved similar laws, but this would be a first outside the Pacific Northwest. "Government should not control how much suffering a person must endure to die," advocate Steve Crawford says.

Some wealthy individuals are using the ballot this year to fight for their ideas or economic interests. In California, civil rights lawyer Molly Munger, daughter of Berkshire Hathaway billionaire Charles Munger, has spent $44 million promoting a ballot issue that competes with the governor's. Her half-brother, Charles Munger Jr., a Stanford physicist, has donated tens of millions of dollars toward defeating the governor's tax plan.

In Michigan, billionaire Manuel Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, has spent more than $30 million on a constitutional amendment designed to thwart construction of a rival bridge between Michigan and Canada. "It's a proposal entirely about the parochial interest of one family," says opponent Phil Power, president of The Center for Michigan, a non-partisan research organization.